The Nile rat (NR, Arvicanthis niloticus) is a model of carbohydrate-induced type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and the metabolic syndrome. A previous study found that palm fruit juice (PFJ) delayed or prevented diabetes and in some cases even reversed its early stages in young NRs. However, the molecular mechanisms by which PFJ exerts these anti-diabetic effects are unknown. In this study, the transcriptomic effects of PFJ were studied in young male NRs, using microarray gene expression analysis.
Three-week-old weanling NRs were fed either a high-carbohydrate diet (%En from carbohydrate/fat/protein = 70:10:20, 16.7 kJ/g; n = 8) or the same high-carbohydrate diet supplemented with PFJ (415 ml of 13,000-ppm gallic acid equivalent (GAE) for a final concentration of 5.4 g GAE per kg diet or 2.7 g per 2000 kcal; n = 8). Livers were obtained from these NRs for microarray gene expression analysis using Illumina MouseRef-8 Version 2 Expression BeadChips. Microarray data were analysed along with the physiological parameters of diabetes.
Compared to the control group, 71 genes were up-regulated while 108 were down-regulated in the group supplemented with PFJ. Among hepatic genes up-regulated were apolipoproteins related to high-density lipoproteins (HDL) and genes involved in hepatic detoxification, while those down-regulated were related to insulin signalling and fibrosis.
The results obtained suggest that the anti-diabetic effects of PFJ may be due to mechanisms other than an increase in insulin secretion.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
3
7%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
2
5%
Immunology and Microbiology
2
5%
Other
4
10%
Unknown
18
43%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 6. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 04 May 2026.
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#8,706,836
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Outputs from Genes & Nutrition
#148
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Outputs of similar age
#95,065
of 330,641 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Genes & Nutrition
#1
of 6 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 32,588,054 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 73rd percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 474 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 8.0. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 67% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 6 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has scored higher than all of them
